Hey guys! I know it's been a while since an update, so this one is a little bit longer than normal. Also, if you want update information on where I am currently in the writing process, just check out my profile, I keep it updated every time I write.

Chapter 7

Hinata spent the next day in her room, staring at the ceiling, pacing around in circles, and falling into fits of crying. Sometimes she would get a sudden burst of bravery and get all the way to the door, then her hand would start shaking and she would collapse onto her knees. "Why?" she would ask herself, "Why can't I do this?"

She knew. It was because she was weak. She was too weak to follow through on what she had set out to do, the thing she had set all of her resolve in. The day turned into night, and the stars revealed their selves once more. Her tear stained pillow was soaked once again as she buried her face into it, sobbing with seemingly no end. She didn't know how long it was before she cried herself to sleep.

The next morning at daylight she decided that she couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't go back after she had disappeared, she was too afraid of the pain her father would put her through. Finally, she shot out of bed, grabbed her backpack, and ran to the entrance. She signed herself out and dashed as fast as she could down the path, far away from Naruto. She didn't ever want to see him again. Not if she couldn't even get up the nerve to look at him. The fear of rejection was just too great. She needed to get away…

Naruto woke up groggily and yawned, then looked out the window. "Wow," he thought to himself, "It's been a while since I've slept in this long." He stretched again and got up, bathed, dressed himself, and ate a hearty breakfast. It wasn't until noon that he was ready and realized that his ankle had completely healed. "Well," he said aloud, "No time to lose!" He walked up to the reception desk and was about to sign out when he saw just a little higher on the list, "Hinata."

His face went pale as he saw the name and realized that she had been there just this morning and all of yesterday. "She… came for me…" his gaze shifted towards the ground. "She came for me…" he repeated, his voice inlaid with more emotion this time. He sat down on the wooden floor and stared blankly into space. "I… I…" he stuttered. He hadn't ever felt this feeling in him before. It seemed to radiate from his heart and flow through his bloodstream. For the last couple of days she was right there in front of him, and he didn't even see her. It was now he realized what the missing piece was. It wasn't his friends or the village or anything like that. It was Hinata. It was Hinata!

Suddenly, with renewed strength in his legs, he got up, signed out, and ran down the path. He saw her footprints she had left this morning barely noticeable to the untrained eye, but he remembered what her footprint was like when she had walked into school with muddy shoes on. He had never forgotten them for some reason. He ran in their direction, leapt into a tree, and charged at full speed down the trail.

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! He yelled, forming the seal with his hands. A clone appeared on the branch in front of him and threw him, sending him faster through the branches. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he yelled again, and another grabbed his arm, propelling him forward. He did this several times until finally, he was nothing but a blur to anything on the road. He felt a surge of chakra he had never felt before, almost like he was getting his second wind on top of his normal strength. "I'll catch up to you," he declared, "I'll find you!"

Many miles away, Hinata was rushing through the branches as well, going as fast as she could. She couldn't feel her heart anymore, it had turned to stone. She didn't care now, though. In fact, she was glad. She felt much stronger, like a burden had been lifted off of her shoulders. It was the burden of feeling. With this out of the way, she could run and run and run.

Suddenly a black dagger came flying through the branches at her and landed in her leg. She stumbled and fell, landing on her back and rolling along the path until she finally lost momentum. She could feel scrapes and bruises all over her body, and the knife protruded from her left quadricep. She tried to pull it out, but soon realized that it was caught in her flesh. Someone dropped down from the trees above.

The figure was tall and lean, and by his stance it seemed almost obvious that he was very agile. He stood there with three kunai in one hand, each of them barbed like a fisherman's hook. He wore a disturbing mask with scars and blood painted all over it, and he wore black pants and a purple jacket with nothing underneath it. "What's the matter little girl? Can't get up?" He laughed, insanity underplaying his voice. "I've always wanted to take down a Hyuuga."

She didn't know what to do; she was scared, just like before. Then she realized that fear would do no good. Her heart had hardened into that of a warrior's, and so she would fight to her final breath. As she tried to stand up, though, she found her leg would not obey her commands.

The man shook his finger. "Paralysis poison, my young Hyuuga. It takes effect almost immediately on wherever it strikes, and will soon creep through your entire body." He laughed his manic laughter again. "Let's see what happens when it hits your head." However, just as he was raising his kunai to throw it at her, a fist came from behind at speeds unimaginable, penetrating his skull and sending a shard into his brain. The man stood there for a few moments, then fell to the ground in a heap.

Naruto came to a screeching halt, sliding past Hinata, and then came back around to inspect her wounds. "Hinata!" he yelled as he ran back around, "Are you alright?"

Hinata had a nervous look in her eyes as she locked them with Naruto's. It was a mix of love, fear, terror, excitement, and any other kind of feeling she could have at that point as the walls around her heart fell away again. Then she felt a sharp pain in her thigh. Soon after it went completely numb. "Naruto…" she whispered, her pure white eyes staring into his.

He looked down at the kunai lodged in her leg. "My god…" he exclaimed, "What has he done to you?"

Hinata gave a disappointed expression. "It's covered in a paralysis poison. I already feel numb in my upper leg." She began to cry. "I'm sorry, Naruto."

Naruto would have none of it. He scooped her up in his arms. "I remember seeing a map that showed a large village nearby here. It has to have a hospital!" He began to run, first just his normal muscles, but then chakra began to form in them, increasing their power, their speed, their stamina. Soon he was running ten times the speed of a full grown horse. "I have to save her…" he thought, "I have to save her!"

By the time he got there she couldn't feel anything in her left leg, on her left side, her waist or her upper right leg. "Naruto…" she whispered as they entered the city limits, "It's taking me… the poison…" A feeling of hopelessness crept over her as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Hinata," said Naruto, "Please don't cry. It hurts me when I see you cry."

A shock ran through her body. "He… doesn't like me to cry?" she thought. Suddenly she began to feel warm and she nestled herself more into his arms, letting her body absorb Naruto's heat.

The young Nin smiled slightly as she did this, but soon got his stern face again and ran into town. It was about a quarter of the size of Konoha, but was just as developed. He asked someone the way to the hospital, and he pointed in one direction. Naruto thanked him and leapt onto a rooftop to get a better view. Not too far away he saw the large white building, and with all of his strength he pushed their two bodies closer towards safety.

When he arrived Hinata was beginning to lose feeling in her torso and her lower right leg. Time was running out. He burst through the door and ran to the desk. "Please," he begged, "She's been struck with a paralysis poison! It's spreading!"

The clerk nodded and made a phone call. Two medical ninja in the traditional hospital blue came rushing down the hallway with a stretcher, onto which Naruto placed the young Hyuuga. She was rushed off to an emergency room where she was inspected. Naruto followed, answering questions the doctors asked. They removed the kunai, then asked Naruto to leave. He was about to fight back, but when Hinata looked at him, he stopped and reluctantly obeyed.

He sat outside of the room for nearly an hour, running possible scenarios through his head. He thanked any power that may be that he caught them when they had very few patients. Despite this, he feared for her. What if she was paralyzed for her whole life? What if he never got to talk to her again? What if she died? The fear ran through his head over and over as he stared into space. Tears slowly began to trickle down his eyes, and he felt his carefree heart begin to fill itself with fear.

Finally, the doctors emerged. "She's just barely okay," said one of them, "We were able to administer the antivenin just in time. However…" he went on, looking at the light figure of the girl, "She's fully paralyzed from her neck down. She won't be moving ever again except in a wheelchair, and even then not unless it is powered by another person." The medical nin directed his gaze towards the ground in sadness. "I'm sorry," he said as he carted her into the room and left them alone.

Naruto was struck speechless. "Paralyzed…" he mouthed, wishing that it could have been different. For the first time since he left on his trip, and for the first time in front of the one he loved, he cried. He cried tears of pain and sorrow for Hinata's lost life and mobility. He wished it could have been different. Why couldn't it have been? He was so close to leading a happy life with her, and now he had his hopes stolen away from him. There had to be a way to cure her of this terrible curse, some way.

"Hey, you doctor!" he yelled at the medical ninja walking away, "Is there any way to reverse this, any way to cure her? Please, there has to be a way!" He was practically on his knees begging for an answer.

The doctor looked at the poor young man who had just had his love stolen away from him. "There is… one way," he said without moving. "In the valley not too far from here, there is an herb, one that has very strange properties. It can remove and even reverse the effects of any venom or toxin, almost like it can see what it has done to their body. However, there is only one problem. The valley is said to be cursed. In fact, nobody has ever returned from it alive. I'm not one to stop you, but please, for your own sake, do not go in there."

Naruto's heart burst with joy at the thought of being able to save Hinata. "Which way is this canyon?" he asked him, his face covered with a hopeful determination.

The doctor sighed. "It's to the west, follow the road there and you will find it. I cannot stop you, so I wish you good luck."

"Not a moment to waste," he said, running out the door into the evening sun. If there was even a chance of curing Hinata, he would get it, no matter what hellish depths he had to enter.